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Afghanistan: Two women executed by the Taliban

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BBC / AP / RAWA

Two Afghan women have been reported murdered by Taliban militants in the country's central Ghazni province.

Taliban fighters told the Associated Press that the women had been operating a prostitution ring for American soldiers and foreign contractors. They also claimed that the women had been working for the local police.

A spokesman for the Ghazni governor said the dead women were "innocent local people" and the US has also dismissed the allegations. US military spokesman 1st Lt Nathan Perry said he had never heard of "anything close to that nature". Ghazni officials told Agence France Presse that the women, killed late on Saturday, had no connection with the government.

13 July 2008

BBC South Asia / AP

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Taliban militants say they have executed two women in central Afghanistan after accusing them of working as prostitutes on a US army base.

A spokesman for Ghazni's governor, said the women, dressed in blue burqas, were shot and killed on Saturday just outside Ghazni city in central Afghanistan. He called the two "innocent local people."

Taliban fighters told Associated Press Television News the two were executed for allegedly running a prostitution ring catering to US soldiers and other foreign contractors at a US base in Ghazni city. 1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a US military spokesman, says he has never heard of allegations "anything close to that nature."

An Associated Press Television News crew was in the vicinity when the women were killed. The crew heard gunshots and filmed from some distance in the dark.The following day Associated Press Television filmed the bodies of the two women.

Kabul - The Taliban are believed to have released photos of two beheaded Afghan women on al-Qaeda-linked websites on the Internet on Tuesday.

The women were allegedly decapitated two days ago in the Afghan province of Ghazni after the Taliban had accused them of being prostitutes whose clients included American soldiers and foreign contractors present in Afghanistan.

In the photos the two women are wearing burqas or head-to-ankle veils which cover the entire face.

In the first photo, the women are seen on their knees surrounded by Taliban fighters who are carrying weapons.

In the second image, the bodies of the women are instead seen lying on the ground, covered by their burqas and next to them are bags and their heads separated from the bodies.

In the second photo, some adults and a dozen children are seen looking at the two beheaded bodies, a sign that it could have been a public execution carried out as a warning to the local population.

A spokesperson for governor of the Afghan province of Ghazni revealed that the two women were killed two days ago, saying that the Taliban had killed two innocent people in a "undescribable and cruel" way.

However a spokesperson for the American military, Nathan Perry, denied the report soon after.